Thursday, July 14, 2011

[Blogger's Note: On July 5, 2011, Rep. Frank R. Wolf and Rep. Peter King sent a letter to Dr. Thomas R. Kane, the Bureau of Prisons Acting Director, to request the removal of all "Nation Of Islam" materials from U.S. prisons. This is something that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan forewarned was coming in his March 10 radio interview on the Cliff Kelley Show in Chicago. On July 8, Nation of Islam General Counsel Abdul Arif Muhammad wrote a letter to Dr. Kane to oppose this request by Wolf and King. The following is the full text of the letter.]

July 8, 2011

Dr. Thomas R. Kane

Acting Director

Bureau of Prisons

320 First St NW Rm. 642

Washington, DC 20534 – 0002

Dear Acting Director Kane:

I am general counsel for the Nation of Islam and legal counsel to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. This communication is being written to formally notify you of our objection to and opposition of the request from Congressional Representatives Frank R. Wolf and Peter King in their letter dated July 5, 2011. The letter requests that you immediately remove all written, audio and video materials produced by the “Nation of Islam” and Louis Farrakhan from all BOP facilities.

The United States Constitution, First Amendment, is clear that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech …. The request from these two congressional representatives violates the prohibition stated in the First Amendment. We are committed to ensuring and protecting our rights through all areas of redress that the law permits. In fact we have already litigated this matter in federal court and our first amendment rights were upheld.

During the June 15, 2011 hearings referenced in the congressmen’s letter there were no facts or evidence presented that Islam as taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under the guidance of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan leads to radicalization, terrorism or extremist ideologies. The truth is the Nation of Islam has been recognized for over 70 years for reforming inmates and former inmates spiritually, morally, intellectually, and economically, and producing law abiding citizens who are positive contributors to their community. These individuals have a very low rate of recidivism. Moreover, there has not been one member of the Nation of Islam during our eighty year history in America that has been charged with an act of terrorism against the United States. We are taught by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to respect the laws that govern our Nation.

Contrary to the congressmen’s assertion that prisons in the US have been a fertile breeding ground for violent ideology leading to radicalization, the testimony and evidence presented at the hearing proved exactly the opposite. For your convenience I have attached the Testimony of Professor Bert Useem, of Purdue University, one of the presenters at the hearing.

The conclusion reached by this expert clearly contradicts the assertions in the July 5th letter. It states in pertinent part; My core argument, then, is that U.S. prisons are not systematically generating a terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland. … .The claim that U.S. prisons will generate scores of terrorists spilling out onto the streets of our cities appears to be false or, at least, much overstated.

More specifically and most importantly, Professor Useem was pointedly asked by Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee (D) Texas, a member of the Homeland Security Committee whether he viewed the Nation of Islam as promoting, in the current 21st century, the undermining of this nation? Professor Useem stated; No, I don’t. For your convenience I have attached an excerpt of the transcript of this specific line of questioning.

We further categorically reject the perverse interpretation given by the congressmen regarding the alleged quote attributed to Minister Farrakhan as anti-American and anti-Semitic propaganda, or that the video titles cited purportedly belong to the Nation of Islam.

We continue to provide spiritual and reformatory services to inmates, male and female, in many federal correctional facilities throughout the United States. Thus, we request to meet with you to engage in a dialogue regarding policies and procedures that will allow us to work together in a cooperative manner to achieve the rehabilitation of the inmate population we serve.

We believe these discussions will be beneficial especially in regards to your regulations concerning Incoming Publications, Religious Beliefs and Practices, and your Chaplains services.

Follow The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on Twitter!

Sis. Charlene @ KJLH Radio

As former producer of the Front Page, I got a daily, ring side seat to news and analysis from some of the most hard-hitting scholars our communities have produced, many you're already familiar with. The show features daily listener comments and questions and on Mondays, I produced the Next Page, a mini-feature on issues impacting our people, but that were buried in the news. .